Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

A few weeks ago, I was pressed for time and wanted to pick up a few things at the store. Normally, I go to Whole Foods to pick up grains and such from their bulk bins, but because I was running short on time, I went ahead and stopped by Luckys. One of the things I grabbed was a container of the quaker oats, because I was wanting to use rolled oats for – well, I forget now, because when I got home, I realized I’d accidentally grabbed the instant oats container. Did you know that the containers for Quaker Quick Oats and Quaker Oats are virtually identical? I probably would have caught it, if I hadn’t been in a hurry – but dem’s da breaks.

Anyhow – so I’ve had these instant oats, sitting in the cabinet – taking up valuable pantry real estate (because no one here eats Instant Oats, we prefer Steel Cut). So When I came across these cookies over on a blog called Avec Gourmandise I was like Aha! Something to use up those oats! She called for old fashioned oats, but I think that the instant oats are better for cookies, since they cook a little more thoroughly and lose some of that ‘raw’ texture. Or atleast, I think that when I’m making cookies that Mr. Man will eat – he can be a little picky about textures sometimes.

Of course, I had to tweak with the ingredients and method a little myself – because that is just how I am. I think the recipe was originally from a baking book by Dorie Greenspan. Not sure what the name of it is, but she mentioned the author in her post. Anyhow – the cookies came out fabulous. I could wish that the Peanut Butter flavor was a little more pronounced, but otherwise they were great. I strongly recommend resting the dough for at least 24 hours to let the oats and flour absorb the moisture in the dough a little better.

Ingredients:

3 cups Instant Oats

1 cup Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Fresh ground Nutmeg

3/4 tsp Kosher Salt

1 cup Butter, softened

1 cup Natural Chunky Peanut Butter; room temperature

1 and 3/4 cups Brown Sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

4 oz Milk Chocolate; cut in to chunks

4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate; cut in to chunks

Method:

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the Oats, Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Kosher Salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the Butter and the Brown Sugar until fluffy

Add in the eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined

Completely mix in the Peanut butter

Mix in the oat mixture, a little at a time, until completely incorporated

Stir in the chocolate chunks

Cover cookie dough and refrigerate for a minimum of a couple of hours, but I highly recommend resting for at least 24 hours.

After the dough has rested, preheat oven to 350°

Drop cookies using a cookie scoop or rounded spoonfuls on to a parchment lined baking sheet

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until cookies are set in the middle.

Cool on the pan until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling